Ans: To her surprise, Margie found that the texts on the pages didn’t move the way they were supposed to on a television or a computer screen. Besides, she was wondered why anyone would write about school.

5. What do you think a telebook is?

Ans: A telebook book is a sort of virtual book that can be displayed and read on a television screen.

6. Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?

Ans: Margie’s school was right next to her bedroom.

No, she didn’t have any classmates.

7. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?

Ans: Margie and Tommy learned geography, history and arithmetic.

II. Answer the following with reference to the story.1. “I wouldn’t throw it away.”

(i) Who says these words?

(ii) What does ‘it’ refer to?

(iii) What is it being compared with by the speaker?

Ans:

(i) Tommy said these words.

(ii) ‘It’ refers to the television at their home.

(iii) Tommy is comparing the television to the real books in earlier times in which words were printed on paper. He thought that after reading such books, one would have to throw them away. However, he would never throw his telebooks away as their television could contain millions of telebooks.

2. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.”

(i) Who does ‘they’ refer to?

(ii) What does ‘regular’ mean here?

(iii) What is it contrasted with?

Ans:

(i) They refer to the students who studied in the old kind of schools centuries before.

(ii) Here, ‘regular’ refers to the mechanical teachers that Tommy and Margie had.

(iii) The mechanical teacher is contrasted with the teachers of earlier times, who were real human beings.

III. Answer each of these questions in a short paragraph (about 30 words).

1. What kind of teachers did Margie and Tommy have?

Ans: Margie and Tommy had mechanical teachers. They were large and black and ugly. They had large black screens on which all the lessons were shown and questions were asked. The students had to put their homework and test papers inside the slot the mechanical teachers had on their body. They had to write their answers in a punch code and the mechanical teacher could calculate the marks at once.

2. Why did Margie’s mother send for the County Inspector?

Ans: Margie had been giving test after test in geography. But her performance was getting worse and worse. That’s why Margie’s mother sent for the County Inspector to find out if anything is wrong.

3. What did he do?

Ans: The County Inspector gave Margie an apple and started mending the mechanical teacher. He took it apart and then checked it. To Margie’s disappointment, he managed to reassemble it. He slowed down the geography sector of the teacher because it was geared a little too quick for an average ten-year-old.

4. Why was Margie doing badly in geography? What did the County Inspector do to help her?

Terrorism is the act of creating chaos and anarchy in the society by a group of people with some vested interests. They often acquire sophisticated arms and hide in inaccessible areas.

The terrorists kill innocent people, loot valuables, damage public property and keep people as hostage for money. They often try to justify their misdeeds as something done for the benefit of a community or the society. Whatever be the reason, their killing of innocent people and children and destruction of public property can never be justifiable. They are just opportunists and violence-mongers. Some internationally operative terrorist groups are Lashkar-e-Toiba, Al Qaeda, Hamas, LTTE, ISIS etc.

It is noticed that terrorist groups are nurtured by governments or a community. If we can spread awareness among the common people about the ill-effects of terrorism, they may refrain from helping them.

Q.2. Write an article for your school magazine on the uses and abuses of mobile phones.

Ans: The uses and abuses of mobile phones

Mobile phones, also known as cell phones, are a dire necessity now a days. We can not think of a single day without mobile phones.

It has facilitated long-distance conversations. Exchanging information is a matter of seconds only. We can not only talk over mobile phones but also do various other tasks such as internet surfing, taking photos, listening to music, watching videos, playing games etc. It has strengthened the bond of relationships. Mobile phones are mostly inexpensive and handy. These help us in our personal and professional tasks.

Like any other scientific invention, mobile phones have their negative side too. The young generation, especially, misuse them. They keep themselves so much busy over making calls and surfing the internet that they often neglect their primary duties. Besides, researchers have detected that the electromagnetic radiation from the mobile phones may lead to many health hazards. Using mobile phones while driving may distract the driver’s attention and cause accidents.

It is said that too much of everything is bad. We can reap benefits from mobile phones only if we use it moderately.